Away Rotation at UT-Houston

[FuturDocteur]

Does rotating at UT-Houston help in matching there? I think I've heard that they generally don't match their rotators. Anyone in the know should please shed some light on this.

Thanks!

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[namesname]

I rotated there this year, and would not recommend it. It seems that most of their residents did not rotate there. Talking to residents and students, and based on my own experience, the consensus is that once you rotate there you will rank it last.
They program is chaos, the students from there don't want to go there unless they have to stay in Houston for family/ spouse reasons. The chair was nice to me and the rotators but seemed to treat the residents very poorly as well as it seemed do the other faculty. They stay in clinics very late, doing scut work. They have no PD for a large program so the residents say they do a lot of this admin type work and stuff that the attendings don't want to do. Their coordinator told me she works part time (not sure why) and was impossible to get a hold of about rotations and interview questions. A couple people I met on the interview trail etc said they are interested in Mohs and so won't go there unless no other options because of the reputation of their Mohs dept faculty. You have to decide for yourself but some friendly info I did not find out until after spending my very limited away rotation time there.
GoodLuck.

 

[FuturDocteur]

Thank you so much!

 

[porokeratosis]

Rotating at UT Houston is a good idea if you are interested in the program. But just be aware there are typically 7 or more rotating med students every month. So you will have to work extra hard to make a good impression and be remembered favorably. If you rotate at UT Houston, you will be given an interview - in the past, you interview at the end of the rotation with the Chair and PD, but I heard some rotaters came to interview day this past year.

I believe UT Houston is a very strong program and you come out a very competent medical dermatologist (I disagree with "namesname" info above). The pathology you will see is amazing. You will work at MD Anderson, #1 cancer center in USA, and see a lot of cancers (CTCL, melanomas, mets to skin, etc), GVHD, and drug reactions from chemotherapy and the new anti-cancer meds, etc. You will work at Harris County City Hospitals and see the great path from working with the indigent population. They also have a Derm-Rheum clinic and Bullous disorder clinic. The Derm surgery training is average. The program is weak in Peds Derm training and you do not get to work at a VA (Baylor has both Texas Childrens Hospital and VA).

UT Houston has 2 fellowships - Dermpath and Mohs Surg/Procedural Derm. The Dermpath fellowship training is 5 STARS (PD is Dr. Rapini) and I think it's the best of the 4 Dermpath programs in the Houston/Galveston area. There is a weekly Dermpath consensus conference with MD Anderson & Bayor Dermpath Fellowship programs where you can learn from other well-known DP Gurus.

Yes, you will have to deal with some scut, poor to average support staff, and work long hours, typically 8-6 or 8-7. But other programs (eg. Harvard and Penn) have just as long or longer working hours. However, working hard for 3 years of residency will make you a better doctor in the long run and you will appreciate your training when you are alone and have to make decisions on your own. Once you finish your residency, then you can choose your cush job and work 3 or 4-days a week.

That's my 2 cents,
-Poro